"Sidelights"

Karl Tobien is a management consultant and speaker. Born on January 1, 1956, near a Soviet labor camp in Siberia's northernmost region, Tobien spent his first two and a half years in the Soviet Union with his parents and grandmother. He then fled to Hanover, West Germany, with his family and by age six had immigrated to the United States, his mother's homeland. After graduating from high school in Cincinnati, Ohio, he served for four years in the U.S. Navy. He consecutively studied business administration and, after completing his military service, worked variously as a disc jockey, lifeguard, bartender, actor, and model. He also played amateur sports, including baseball and hockey. He went on to marry his wife, Tina, and have four children while working in the corporate world.

Tobien published his first book, Dancing...